How-to

Want your teens to want to read the Book of Mormon, but struggling with how to inspire them? Here are six simple ideas to help you.

The prophets have asked every Church member to read and study the Book of Mormon. But for some teens, reading every day becomes at best a chore and at worst a trigger for a fight with Mom and Dad. Here are six simple ideas to help increase your teen’s interest in reading the Book of Mormon.

1. Make it matter.

One of the most common reasons why teens aren’t interested in the Book of Mormon is because they have a hard time seeing how it has anything to do with their lives. We should always ask how a principle applies to them today.For instance, King Noah chose friends who were bad influences on him (see Mosiah 11:1–15). Does it really matter who our friends are today? Are there any parallels between the Nephites wearing armor to battle and us dressing modestly today (see Alma 43:19–21)? How do things like pornography and drugs poison us “by degrees” (Alma 47:18)? Seeing how the teachings of the Book of Mormon apply to their lives can be quite powerful for teens.

2. Make it fun.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with injecting a little appropriate humor into your study of the Book of Mormon. For instance, I can’t read about King Noah without comparing him to Jabba the Hutt. I always picture Sherem as a sleazy con artist—one part televangelist and one part used car salesman. Chemish’s lone verse in the book of Omni, where he basically rats on his brother for waiting 38 years before writing anything, cracks me up every time (see Omni 1:9). When Ammoron writes a letter to Captain Moroni in Alma 54:16, in which he swears to avenge his brother’s death, I can’t help but hear Mandy Patinkin’s voice from The Princess Bride:

Speaking in sacrament meeting is tough--make your next talk amazing by avoiding these five openers and trying something else instead.

Chances are, if you’re a Latter-day Saint, you’ve had this happen
to you before: it’s a Tuesday night like any other. Our family has
just finished dinner, and we’re clearing the table when the phone rings. It’s
the bishop. The conversation lasts less than two minutes, but the worry we feel
coming away from that phone call will haunt us for the next week: we’ve been
asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting.

We prepare as best we can, prayerfully researching everywhere
on the topic we’ve been given, from the Bible Dictionary to conference talks to
even just Google. But when the moment comes to stand up in front of our fellow
ward members, including family and friends, we freeze up. We don’t know what to
do to get this carefully prepared talk rolling. What do we say?

What should you say to someone who experiences same-sex attraction? The answers to that question may vary depending on age, marital status, and gay-identification (or not). Here are a few do’s and don’ts to help you navigate some of those sensitivities.

Homosexuality is a sensitive and complex issue, which can make talking about it difficult. Believing Latter-day Saints who experience same-sex attraction often feel caught in between two worlds—the Latter-day Saint community who, while most often well-intentioned, can say insensitive or hurtful things, and the LGBT-identified community who will often judge them as not being “true to themselves.”

When the Lord's timing does not include children in this life, couples experience a special kind of heartbreak. But understanding from friends, family, and fellow Church members can make it easier to go through life as a family of two.

Because our church places paramount focus on the family, it can be easy for couples without children to feel left out. Especially when, after years of countless appointments, invasive tests, and expensive surgeries and treatments, infertile couples sometimes must accept that they will not have the opportunity to be parents in this lifetime.

Recent concerns about the relationship of women and the priesthood have raised a lot of questions in and out of the Church. Find out more about this sensitive subject so that you know what to say the next time someone asks you about women and the priesthood.

Recent LDS events in the news have focused on a small group of women who are challenging longstanding traditions and even LDS doctrine. In light of this situation, many members are unsure how to respond when others ask about this hot-button topic.

To help you in your explanations to others, here are some important points to remember as you discuss women and the priesthood:

Church Policy and LDS Culture vs. Doctrine

An important distinction that must be made when discussing gender equality in the Church is the difference between Church administrative policy, LDS culture, and true doctrine.

Because the Church is a large entity operating internationally with millions of members, rules are put in place to keep things running smoothly and consistently. Examples of Church policies relevant to this issue which are maintained by man include things like the missionary age.